諺語 · a single proverb
過去心不可得，現在心不可得，未來心不可得
Simplified: 过去心不可得，现在心不可得，未来心不可得
What does 過去心不可得，現在心不可得，未來心不可得 (guò qù xīn bù kě dé, xiàn zài xīn bù kě dé, wèi lái xīn bù kě dé) mean?
過去心不可得，現在心不可得，未來心不可得 (guò qù xīn bù kě dé, xiàn zài xīn bù kě dé, wèi lái xīn bù kě dé) is a line of classical verse (shīcí 詩詞). Word for word it reads "The past mind cannot be grasped, the present mind cannot be grasped, the future mind cannot be grasped." In use it means: No version of the mind, whether remembered, current, or anticipated, can be seized and held as a permanent self. The teaching points to the fluid, ungraspable nature of consciousness. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Water note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Dog.
Literally: "The past mind cannot be grasped, the present mind cannot be grasped, the future mind cannot be grasped."
The reading
You reach for yesterday's anger and your hand closes on air. You try to pin down this exact moment of reading and it has already slipped into the past. You rehearse tomorrow's conversation and the words dissolve before you speak them. The Diamond Sutra delivers this triple negation not to create despair but to create freedom. When you stop trying to own your mind, you stop being owned by it. What remains is not nothing but an open awareness that needs no handle to function.
What kind of proverb it is
Source Diamond Sutra (金剛經 / Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra)
Sits beside
井底之蛙
jǐng dǐ zhī wā
Someone with an extremely narrow view of the world, who mistakes the small circle of sky above the well for the whole sky.
冰凍三尺，非一日之寒
bīng dòng sān chǐ, fēi yī rì zhī hán
Nothing deep-a skill, a habit, a ruin-forms overnight.
心急吃不了熱豆腐
xīn jí chī bù liǎo rè dòu fu
Impatience will not speed things up.
Keep reading
Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in Humility & Self-Mastery, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Dog, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.
Questions
Is 過去心不可得，現在心不可得，未來心不可得 a real Chinese proverb?
Yes. 過去心不可得，現在心不可得，未來心不可得 (guò qù xīn bù kě dé, xiàn zài xīn bù kě dé, wèi lái xīn bù kě dé) is a line of classical verse (shīcí 詩詞), and it comes from Diamond Sutra (金剛經 / Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra). It is living Chinese heritage, given here with per-character pinyin and its source so you can trust the line, not a phrase invented in English.
How do you pronounce 過去心不可得，現在心不可得，未來心不可得?
In Mandarin it is guò qù xīn bù kě dé, xiàn zài xīn bù kě dé, wèi lái xīn bù kě dé. Read the pinyin above each character to follow the tones, or press the speaker beside the calligraphy to hear your browser read 過去心不可得，現在心不可得，未來心不可得 aloud in Mandarin.